Peugeot unveils new images of the 9X8 with very elaborate aesthetics, and explains its design in more detail. The hybrid hypercar is due to enter the world endurance championship in 2022. It will take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but perhaps not before 2023.
Very discreet between its presentation last July and the end of 2021, the Peugeot 9X8 continues to be talked about this winter. Peugeot unveils new photos of its hybrid hypercar intended for the WEC world endurance championship and reveals some new style details which, once is not customary for a racing car, has been the subject of all the attention.
The challenge of a finless hypercar
With the 9X8, Peugeot will return to the forefront of endurance racing, and in particular the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking advantage of the change in regulations to make its return to the discipline. The coupé is an LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) designed entirely in-house to fit into the Hypercar class which replaces the LMP1s. Its 680 hp 2.6 biturbo central-rear V6 is associated with a 272 hp front electric motor, enough to provide all-wheel drive and maximum power which, to comply with the regulations, will be limited to 680 hp. The car must weigh 1,030 kg minimum and respect a Balance of Performance defined according to various criteria such as its power and its weight but also its aerodynamics. On this last point, Peugeot intends to shake up the world of motor racing by running with a car devoid of a rear wing, a specificity which greatly contributes to the atypical silhouette of the 9X8.
The manufacturer likes to recall that the last victory of a car without a transverse rear wing in the classic Le Mans dates back to that of a Porsche 917 K in 1971.
This type of appendage had appeared at Le Mans in 1967 with the 1967 Chaparral 2F with a high-pitched, mobile and pedal-controllable wing. The Peugeot 9X8 is still under development and the viability of its finless configuration, dear to its designers, has yet to be confirmed by trials.
This new official communication reflects a certain confidence but what will matter in the end, so that the 9X8 remains in the memories, it will be the sporting results.
Light at the heart of design
Matthias Hossann, Peugeot’s design director, says: ” To identify the theme of our future racing car, we first launched a competition between designers. We have received many proposals; this project has aroused tremendous enthusiasm, with the prospect of one day seeing our creation compete with the most prestigious brands in the world on the most legendary of tracks! Once the theme was selected with the help of Peugeot Sport engineers, the joint work began. »
The three key words intended to guide the style team were ” iconic », « efficient ” and ” “emotional “. And for the 9X8 to be immediately recognizable as a Peugeot, especially at night, the light signature representing three claws in each optical unit has been taken from the brand’s road models. The chief designer details:
“We didn’t have too much trouble fitting them in the front of our 9X8 Hypercar, but staging them in the back required a lot of work. We integrated the three light claws into material elements separated composite, whose interstices allow the extraction of air.
TO READ. An Alpine Hypercar in the 2024 World Endurance Championship
The 9X8 staged as a concept car
Highlighting the features of an automobile with light is one of the specialties of German-based photographer Agnieszka Doroszewicz.
Collaborating with both fashion and automotive brands and passionate about architecture, she is notably behind some recent BMW campaigns with original aesthetics, such as promotional photos of the Vision M Next and XM concepts.
Peugeot called on her to enhance the 9X8. The artist took as a frame an urban and concrete environment in a brutalist style, between dog and wolf. ” Daylight, artificial lights, the violent illuminations of headlights combine with the powerful pattern of the car’s luminous claws. Obviously, we are not at all in Le Mans, but it is indeed all the atmosphere of Le Mans that we find there “, she explains.
It remains to be seen when the Peugeot 9X8 will see the lights of Le Mans. The car is due to make its competition debut in the 2022 season but it will be absent from the inaugural event at Sebring and the race chosen for its entry on the track has not yet been revealed. The 24 Hours of Le Mans next June will only be the third round of the championship, but the characteristics of the car must be fixed until 2025 once they have been approved. Peugeot could therefore enter its car later and only register for Le Mans in 2023 to put the odds on its side.
